/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn-tor.buminteractif.com%2F2026%2F04%2F20205852%2FGettyImages-2271958193.jpg)
On April 11, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) spoke on the US Senate floor and attempted to warn American Senators that Donald Trump is attempting to dismantle America's democratic process. According to Murphy, Trump is slowly but surely weakening America's institutional systems that hold people in power accountable, and that Trump's goal is to create a system that resembles democracy, but is inherently corrupt. During the 20-minute address, Murphy said many of the things that Democrats have been scared to do. Murphy pointed out fascist practices from Trump's administration, and painted a picture of how Donald Trump could turn the US into one of the corrupt democracies it's famous for inserting itself in.
Painting a picture of the future
Murphy began his speech by fighting against some of the hopes that Americans have. Many Americans are waiting for Donald Trump to cross a clear legal line before he goes ‘too far': whether it be a Supreme Court decision, or an international crime. Murphy claims that Trump will not cross a line like that until he can do so without risk. According to Murphy, there is no ‘singular moment' that will signal Trump's advance on America's democracy, and instead, Trump has already begun maneuvering America's political system away from a fair democracy. Murphy said that Democracies die slowly and gradually and that Trump has already begun to make irreversible change.
“Democracies die when, gradually, often quietly and methodically over time, the structures that hold the executive accountable for corruption, thievery, wrongdoing, are dismantled.”
-Sen. Chris Murphy
Murphy painted a picture of an America where elections still happen, and appear normal, but are actually rigged, with one party winning.
Fascism targets four industries
Murph provided further proof that Trump is attempting to take fascist control of the country by comparing his actions to those of past and current dictators. When democracy is under threat by an executive in power, four industries are always targeted: journalism, law, universities, and the business community. Trump has attacked all four of these industries in a plethora of ways, all following in the footsteps of tyrannical leaders of the past.
Trump vs the media
In countries controlled by a dictator, journalists are often jailed for reporting on protests, government corruption, or anything that goes against the regime's talking points. The US has already begun to engage in the suppression of journalism. Well-known journalists are being arrested, international wire services are being denied entry to the White House, exclusive interviews are being given to extremist fringe news organizations, and the government is actively censoring TV programs that criticize Donald Trump. Murphy claims that those are all historical signs of fascism, and history agrees. Murphy also highlighted how Donald Trump has been attacking the idea of ‘truth' since his initial campaign in 2016.
How do you destroy Truth?
Trump has been attacking the idea of truth for a decade, and his impact on America's trust in the media has been detrimental. Sen. Murphy asked the floor a simple question How do you destroy truth?', and listed a series of examples. How do you destroy truth? By lying about it. Lying like Pete Hegseth did when he looked into the camera and told America that “the text messages that everybody read, filled with classified information and war plans, did not include classified information and war plans”. Murphy claimed that the regime wants Americans to stop believing what they see and only believe what they're told.
“The White House wants you to believe that one plus one does not equal two any longer. That you should doubt even the clear things you see with our eyes, that nothing is real, that nothing is true.”
-Sen. Chris Murphy
Trump vs education
Murphy continued to break down how Trump has followed the fascist playbook in America, revealing how Trump has strong-armed some of America's most powerful Universities, and why he's had to do so. Murphy correctly pointed out that political revolution (nearly) always begins with young, educated university students. He cited the protest at Tiananmen Square, which was organized by students, and then told stories of fascist regimes hamstringing post-secondary institutions. Murphy explained how Trump's crackdown on ‘anti-Semitism' by banning pro-Middle East protests is a larger message telling Universities that their funding will be cut if they protest Trump's policy again.
Columbia University was recently forced into signing a deal that strips away its students' right to free speech and peaceful protest, effectively forcing the campus into fascist control. Columbia has to agree to allow campus police to arrest peaceful protesters, and to allow Donald Trump to take direct control over departments that house professors who have been critical of Trump. Murphy likened the agreement to “Federal receivership over an academic department”. Murphy explained that Trump will not have to impose the rules on every University in the country, but after he had gotten a handful of significant players on board, the rest of the industry would roll over pre-emptively.
“The President of the United States got to pick the person who will oversee the Columbia department on the Middle East, South Asia, and African studies, as well as the center for Palestine studies”.
-Sen. Chris Murphy
Trump vs the law
Sen. Murphy, a lawyer by trade before becoming an elected official, also broke down how Trump has been attacking large-scale law firms to discourage them from fighting any of his policies. Murphy explained that Trump must go after lawyers in order to remove processes of accountability. He explained that lawyers are bound to their oath to uphold the Constitution, thus posing a potential threat to Trump's vigilante antics. Murphy claimed that Trump has undertaken a shameless campaign of extortion against any major law firm that fights one of his policies. According to Murphy, Donald Trump has been going to law firms actively fighting his policies, and told them that unless they stop, he will stop offering Federal work to all of their clients. With these firms on retainer for major American corporations that rely on Federal contracts, Trump is trying to create industrial pariahs in the legal world, forcing corporations to abandon firms that are fighting Trump. According to Murphy, the strategy has already begun to work as law firms bend the knee to Trump.
“No doubt every single major law firm will think twice before bringing on an action against an illegal or corrupt action of the President, in fear of Trump retaliating against their business. That's the point, the point is to crush dissent”.
-Sen. Chris Murphy
Trump vs business
Sen. Murphy only had one example to prove Trump is purposefully impeding the business sector: tariffs. He began by admitting that he has no idea what Trump's tariff policy is right now – and neither does anybody else. Trump has changed his tariffs seemingly every 48 hours, targeting different industries and countries, all seemingly at random. According to Murphy, though, it's far from random. Murphy claimed that by applying specific, short-term pressure on certain industries, Trump can influence them to do his bidding. Trump's bi-polar tariffs have forced nearly every major industry to bend the knee to his wishes and take a ‘loyalty pledge'.
“[The] loyalty pledge could be anything. The purchase of some Trump crypto coin, public support for Trump's economic policies, donations to his political campaign.”
-Sen. Chris Murphy
“We are a fake democracy”
Murphy ended his address by doubling down on the core message: don't wait for a big battle between the President and the Supreme Court, watch for the small, consistent historical markers. Democracy doesn't die overnight; it's slowly snuffed out from under a population's noses. When Universities adapt their in-class product to appease a regime, when journalists are afraid of reporting the truth, or even covering it, and lawyers are being strong-armed away from cases they are bound to fight, democracy dies. According to Murphy, America's democracy is already dying, but it's not dead yet. Senator Chris Murphy tried giving his colleagues a wakeup call, but the silence on the floor during his speech probably means it fell on deaf ears.
“The good news is the rules have not been fully rigged yet. There is still time. Not loads of it, but there is still time for this body to set a tone that causes the kind of massive public outrage necessary to stop this campaign of destruction.”
-Sen. Chris Murphy
Created by humans, assisted by AI.
